As with any wooden stake, wielding it against a vampire or vampire bat gives a 10% chance of instantly killing the creature ("You plunge your stake into the heart of <vampire>"). Otherwise, it still does 2 + d6 extra damage ("You drive your stake into <vampire>").

Strategy

This is fairly nice as quest artifacts go. Its damage bonus makes it strong enough to be a contender in SLASH'EM's endgame, while the periodic instakill is useful against annoyances such as vampire mages and fire/star vampires. Slotless magic resistance is also very useful, although as usual, if you are an undead slayer yourself you won't want to rely on this artifact for it. This is a decent candidate for a lawful artifact wish, especially given how the Sceptre of Might has been nerfed in SLASH'EM.

Pacifists and other heavy pet-users will find this a very nice weapon for a pet Solar: it is one of the few ways to give them extrinsic magic resistance, and its damage bonus greatly augments Solars' already-impressive fighting capabilities.